Two vital components in a computer network are routers and switches; however, plugging them in is not nearly enough. In order for routers and switches to operate properly, they must be installed and configured. This is an overview of the proper installation, setup, and configuration of the popular Cisco brand equipment designed to be used with the Ethernet standard of networking.

Switches

The basic configuration includes the configuring of hostname, configuring the enable secret password, enable password and the line vty password and the configuration of each fast Ethernet interface along with the VLAN interface configuration. Network administrators can use the command-line interface (CLI) to set up their Cisco switches. To access the CLI, the switch’s console port must be plugged into a computer terminal or modem with an RJ-45 rollover cable and the appropriate adapter. Once you have the cable plugged in and a terminal emulation program running you will be shown a User Interface Menu (Regan 2004).

The user interface menu includes [M] Menus, [K] Command Line, [I] IP Configuration, and [P] Password Configuration. By entering [M] for menus an administrator can view the different menus for the switch. Pressing [K] will enter the CLI, which is where the administrator can setup the switch. However, before an administrator can use the CLI command they must first move into the Global Configuration Mode to change passwords. Pressing [I] enters the IP Configuration command. Although a switch does not require an IP address using the IP Configuration command an administrator can assign one. By having an IP address and default gateway the administrator can configure the switch with different Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) as well as other network functions (Regan 2004). Pressing [P] enters the Password Configuration mode where passwords can be changed. After an administrator...